Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-23

the ilyeS OF their ancestors as these degen-
crate days will permit. The natives whom
we meet IN those elevated regions seem to
! carry themselves with an air Of greater
dignity, despite their extreme poverty,
| than their richer but more completely
su5jugated brethren in the valley Living
near to natures heart" may not be so
conducive to rapid civilization, but it GER
I tainly spares the Indian that hang-dog air
which is the inevitable result of his con-
tact with the pale-faces. Those whom we
| meet on their way to market in Mexico
excite our wonder at their power of en-
durance. They are laden with enormous
crates of fruit, fowls and vegetables, or
fragrant alfalfa in such bundles that moth
ing can be seen but a mass of moving green
with pair Of black legs beneath it. One
had score of yellow-headed parrots, all
screaming Pa par at once, which he
offered for sale at % cents apiece.
SIXTY MILES UNDER HEAVY LOAD
Is not considered long distance to walk
by these cheerful though taciturn crea-
lures; and many of them make the entire
distance between Acapulco and Cuernavaca
eighty leagues seven days. When
arrived at the market they dispose of
their burden for few reales, which they
Immediately proceed to invest in pulq,te,
and when their skins are filled with that
mild intoxicant they trudge homeward,
happy as kings, though no richer than
before
About seven leagues from La Guarda
we come to the famous Cruz del Marquis
"a great stone cross, set up more than
three centuries and half ago TO mark the
boundary line of Cortes possessions; or,
rather, of those Indian possessions which
the terrified Emperor had been forced to
turn over to him. The ridge upon which
stands La Cruz del Marquis is nearly ten
thousand feet above the sea, mantled by
magnificent forest of pine, through which
the coach bowls merrily over carpet of
cones and needles. Meanwhile, the pas
sengers are on the qUi rire for knights of
the road, having been assured that "the
woods are full of them," and expecting
to see black mask lurking behind every
tree. Numerous crosses, set I'D all along
the wayside, testify to the tricks of these
gentlemen, and at every grim memento
the ragged guards cross themselves amid
muttered aUe Marias, and the drivers assist
ant tosses a stone upon the cairn, instead of
at the donkeys' ears, in token that he, too.
has said Il PRAYER.
Whenever a traveller is murdered here
abouts, and the story of his taking-off gets
to town, the sympathetic natives are sure
to exclaim: " Probacitoi Que desgracia p
Poor fellow What mishapi) But
that Is all that Is ever done about it. But
the robbers, with characteristic politeness,
larry long enough in every case to bury
the remains and set up cross over them,
as nucleus for the pebbles which gather.
year by year, into mighty pile-each
stone being proof of prayer said by some
passer-by for the release from purgatorv of
the poor unshriven soul.
In making this journey one must come
prepared for more
CHANGES OF CLIMATE
Than are often experienced within so short
a time. Where the Cruz del MARQUIS
stands, nelrly ten thousand feet above the
sea, furs would be a blessing but two
hours later the heat is so intense that one
longs for the fashion of Adams day. Not
far beyond La Cruz the descent begins into
the Cuernavaca valley, and from the pine
crowned plateau into the burning terra
catiente the slope is much more abrupt on
the western than the eastern coast, so that
we dash at once from one zone to the other,
and while yet among the hemlocks of the
mountain top, catch glimpses of cane
fields and orange groves.
As we clatter down the hills. crossing
stream after stream, the heat becomes al
most lnsufferable, growing stronger as the
afternoon wanes. We yeafn to tarry at
that pretty little Indian village called
HulchIlaque, whose cane cottages. over
grown with creepers and shaded by flower
ing trees: look particularly attractive, but
like that cranky individual whose cry was
" Excelsior J" We must sternly reject all
such allurements and move steadily on.
though, unlike his, our way leads down.
ward. More and more arid grows the
country, till apparently every particle of
vegetation is burned away. Not tree is
In sight, save here and there a feathery
palm or cocoa, which afford no shade. Cor
geous masses of unknown wild flowers,
vivid yellow spotted with crimson, riot
over the hedgerows, and cacti towers to
nights you would not believe were to tell
you.
LIZARDS
Are everywhere, from the tiny, bright-eyed
creatures darting over adobe walls, to big,
sluggish, dust-colored fellows-many of
them two or three feet long-basking in
the sunshine with half-shut eyes.
At last-wearied, dirty, aching and i'll
tempered-we dash into Cuernayaca amid
cloud of dust, and are turned out sans
ceremonie, on the main plaza in front of the
Hotel de San Pedro. Immediately every
body makes a rush for the baths, which
are situated one block north of our
hostelrie, and thence direct to supper and
slumber in the inn of the good ST. Peter.
Fair Cuernavaca The Tlahuicas tribes
called it Quauhnahuae-meaning near
to the beautiful hills" AMI still earlier
Indians named it Cuanahuac, "the flower
surrounded" And well it deserves all the
praises which poets and romancers have
been layishing upon it during the last 800
years; but we must leave its manifold at
fractions until another week.
FANNIE 3. WARD.